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European Union

In the European Union, enlargement, special arrangements for the expansion of the Schengen Area, and the gradual development of a stronger EU role in immigration have added new complexity to the policy landscape, leading to both new patterns of movement and new policies for governing immigration from outside of the European Union's 28 Member States. The research offered here focuses on migration policies, trends, and common challenges that affect Europe at a supranational level—from free movement to asylum policy and the management of EU borders.

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Europe's largest minority group has long faced discrimination, but France's deportation of Roma as part of its security policies has sparked criticism from the European Union and human rights groups. Kristi Severance explains how the situation has evolved in recent months, the relevant EU laws, and how Europe is likely to move forward.

Since joining the European Union in 2004, Poland has experienced one of the largest emigration flows in its postwar history. But the country has also received thousands of immigrants and refugees, mainly from its eastern neighbors, and is just beginning to invest in immigrant integration. Krystyna Iglicka and Magdalena Ziolek-Skrzypczak look at all aspects of migration in Poland in this updated profile.

In its newest five-year "roadmap" for justice and home affairs policy, the European Union has made migration a priority area. But while the Stockholm program offers plenty of detail on issues like illegal migration and asylum, it offers few specifics as to the final goal. MPI's Elizabeth Collett analyzes the program's action points and looks at challenges facing its implementation.

Over the past year, long-standing discussions and negotiations have resulted in several new information-sharing initiatives that seek to boost security while facilitating travel for legitimate travelers.

Intermarriage is considered a test of integration: the higher the rate, the more integrated the group. Olga Nottmeyer of DIW Berlin finds that while immigrants from Turkey, by far Germany's largest immigrant group, have had low rates of intermarriage in the first generation, intermarriage rates among second-generation Turkish men are increasing.

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As the European Commission looks ahead to the next strategic program for immigration in 2014, this policy brief sketches the challenges in developing a strategic, long-term agenda on migration at a time when Europe remains beset by fiscal uncertainty and a jobs crisis that is particularly acute for the young. Against such a backdrop, few governments are willing to have a serious conversation about anything but skilled immigration.

While policymakers are under increasing pressure to reduce illegal immigration, the estimated population of unauthorized immigrants in EU-15 countries has declined since 2002. European governments are collaborating on the management of their external borders, as this report details, discussing the detected and estimated scope of irregular migration in the European Union.

Though contentious, regularization (referred to in the U.S. context as legalization) remains a frequently utilized policy tool to address the European Union’s unauthorized immigrant population. Since 1996, more than 5 million people have been regularized through a variety of methods, as this Insight details.

This volume from MPI's Transatlantic Council on Migration aims to fill the analytical gap regarding the question of what greater global cooperation on governing the flow of international migrants could achieve.The book focuses on a set of fundamental questions: What are the key steps to building a better, more cooperative system of governance? What are the goals that can be achieved through greater international cooperation? And, most fundamentally, who (or what) is to be governed?

This final report summarizes and reflects upon the key findings of the Improving EU and U.S. Immigration Systems: Learning from Experience comparative research project undertaken by MPI and the European University Institute through a grant from the European Commission.

European dominance in U.S. immigration flows has decreased significantly since World War II, a result of economic, demographic, and policy trends on both sides of the Atlantic. Today, migration from European Union Member States to the United States, while small, is characterized by a substantial numbers of European scientists, professionals, and businesspeople.

Civil society provides a crucial link between governments and the communities they represent—infusing policy processes with grassroots knowledge to which governments may not otherwise have access. Looking at the European Union’s efforts to engage with civil society in its “neighborhood,” this report examines the benefits, challenges, and mechanisms to building dialogue and cooperation on migration and development.

The EU-U.S. relationship is one of the most significant partnerships among wealthy nations. Interconnections between the two on migration issues make dialogue necessary and inevitable, as each relies on each other to attain a number of policy objectives, most clearly in the case of travel and border security.